Interorganizational Change Research Articles

MOSAIC: A Structured Multidisciplinary Analysis for Managing the Integration of Inter-Organizational Changes

Sociotechnical systems like railways are becoming increasingly complex as numerous changes are constantly being integrated to improve or maintain desired performances. A crucial aspect enabling this integration is to define the scope of the changes, referred to as the system of interest. This can be challenging for engineering managers due to mounting system complexity caused by: an inter-organizational environment, a multitude of diverse stakeholders, the multidomain environment, and an increasing number of interdependencies. By employing Design Science Research, this study proposes an analysis that supports engineering managers in managing sociotechnical and inter-organizational change integration (MOSAIC) by facilitating a structured, multidisciplinary assessment of system impacts and interdependencies. The design was evaluated by applying it to an inter-organizational project in the Dutch railway system. The findings show that with MOSAIC, a system of interest can be collectively defined using the proposed process and a multidisciplinary and inter-organizational group of experts, creating mutual understanding. MOSAIC can further aid engineering managers in front-end project planning.

Implementing organisational change in a digitalising facilities management organisation through stewardship interventions

Purpose While digitalisation requires facilities management (FM) organisations to change at an increasing rate, little is known about the mechanisms that create ownership and enable individuals to implement changes in everyday FM practice. In this study, these mechanisms are explored from a stewardship perspective. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the dynamics of organisational change in FM by analysing how stewardship behaviour leads to change. Design/methodology/approach A process model for implementing organisational change is constructed, based on existing theoretical insights from stewardship and intrapreneurship literature. The model is evaluated in a case study through analysis of critical events. Interviewing was the key data collection method. Findings The process model gives an event-driven explanation of change through psychological ownership. Analysis of multiple critical events suggests that the model explains intra-organisational as well as inter-organisational change. The case data further suggests that, compared with intra-organisational change, tailored relational and motivational support is more important for inter-organisational change because of the higher risks involved. Job crafting emerged as an unanticipated finding that offers interesting prospects for future FM research. Practical implications The process model offers guidance for leaders in FM organisations on providing tailored support to internal and external employees during periods of organisational change. Originality/value Stewardship and intrapreneurship are combined to provide insights on organisational change in FM. The study demonstrates how intrapreneurial behaviour and stewardship behaviour can be linked to create innovation within and between organisations.

Shaping interorganizational strategic projects through power relations and strategic practices

Power in interorganizational strategic projects, used for implementing strategic change, is essential but not well understood. This paper devises a conceptual framework in which power relations, strategic practices and an order and conflict view are integrated. An ethnoventionist approach, including ethnography and interventions, is used to show power relations and strategic practices in an interorganizational change project. This project aimed to improve the collaboration between nine organizations in the joint building of subsurface utilities and telecom networks. The findings show four relevant power relations and the delegating of power from top managers to shop-flow workers, which triggered middle managers to constrain the change process. implementation of these innovations. Theoretically, the study contributes to the debate on interorganizational strategic projects with a conceptual framework including power relations, strategic practices and the order and conflict view, demonstrating the long-term effects of strategic change projects.

Collaboration for Strategic Change: Examining Dialectical Tensions in an Interorganizational Change Effort

Given the increasing number of interorganizational collaborations across governmental and private sectors, this study furthers theoretical understanding of these relationships by focusing on dialectical tensions experienced in a collaborative strategic change effort. The research site was an 11-member statewide interorganizational committee working to create change across all involved organizations. Data collection included prolonged observation of meetings over 18 months and interviews with committee leaders. Analytical procedures began with a modified constant comparative analysis that guided the research toward a tension-centered approach for ongoing data collection and analysis. Results include seven dialectical tensions representing three tension types: commitment-based, process-based, and outcome-based tensions. Participants used four strategies for communicatively negotiating tensions: acknowledging, delaying, hedging, and invoking authoritative texts. This study contributes to an increasing awareness of the constitutive nature of communication in collaborations and continues to refine our understanding of dialectical tension management in group interactions.

Unlearning in managing wicked biodiversity problems

Unlearning is drawing attention in sustainability research. Unlearning old beliefs and assumptions is needed to tackle wicked problems and to make space for learning. We introduce a framework for examining the potential of unlearning as a group process for transformational change. We integrate conceptual elements of unlearning with framing research and analyze 1) factors that facilitate unlearning, 2) the moments of doubt where unlearning and reframing takes place and 3) how unlearning can be operationalized in the analysis of discussion material. We demonstrate the framework by using a conflict situation – the conservation of Siberian flying squirrels in the Tampere urban region in Finland – as a case study where the participating actors had to unlearn dominant beliefs and assumptions to make space for a more strategic, comprehensive and proactive approach to collaborative conservation. A predictive habitat model of the regional flying squirrel population helped the process, but the decisive support for unlearning was a facilitated dialogue process with diverse assignments. The framework is tailored to experimental group processes by which innovative unlearning and reframing can be initiated and supported for organizational and interorganizational change.

The institutional logic of integrated care: an ethnography of patient transitions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to use theories of institutional logics and institutional entrepreneurship to examine how and why macro-, meso-, and micro-level influences inter-relate in the implementation of integrated transitional care out of hospital in the English National Health Service.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted an ethnographic case study of a hospital and surrounding services within a large urban centre in England. Specific methods included qualitative interviews with patients/caregivers, health/social care providers, and organizational leaders; observations of hospital transition planning meetings, community “hub” meetings, and other instances of transition planning; reviews of patient records; and analysis of key policy documents. Analysis was iterative and informed by theory on institutional logics and institutional entrepreneurship.FindingsOrganizational leaders at the meso-level of health and social care promoted a partnership logic of integrated care in response to conflicting institutional ideas found within a key macro-level policy enacted in 2003 (The Community Care (Delayed Discharges) Act). Through institutional entrepreneurship at the micro-level, the partnership logic became manifest in the form of relationship work among health and social care providers; they sought to build strong interpersonal relationships to enact more integrated transitional care.Originality/valueThis study has three key implications. First, efforts to promote integrated care should strategically include institutional entrepreneurs at the organizational and clinical levels. Second, integrated care initiatives should emphasize relationship-building among health and social care providers. Finally, theoretical development on institutional logics should further examine the role of interpersonal relationships in facilitating the “spread” of logics between macro-, meso-, and micro-level influences on inter-organizational change.

Gun crime incident reviews as a strategy for enhancing problem solving and information sharing

Over the last several decades, police departments and other criminal justice agencies have seen a shift toward a proactive problem-solving response to crime problems. This problem-solving orientation has often included an emphasis on expanded partnerships across criminal justice agencies as well as with a variety of community stakeholders, including researchers. This manuscript uses the issue of gun violence as a lens through which to examine the organizational and inter-organizational changes necessary to apply a data-driven, proactive, and strategic policing-led response to gun homicides and non-fatal shootings in four Midwestern sites. Each site adapted a unique data collection process and incident review. The data collection, incident reviews, and the varying models developed across the four cities, provide a reflection on corresponding organizational and inter-organizational changes that illuminate the movement toward this proactive, data-driven, problem-solving model of criminal justice. Fulfilling the promise of the incident reviews, however, requires internal organizational and cross-agency inter-organizational collaboration to align people, systems, and resources with this proactive, problem-solving model. Additionally, effectively implementing these organizational and inter-organizational changes appears dependent on commitment and leadership, collaboration and partnerships, data quality and availability, and training and communication within and across organizational boundaries.

From boundaries to boundary work: middle managers creating inter-organizational change.

Purpose In healthcare, organizational boundaries are often viewed as barriers to change. The purpose of this paper is to show how middle managers create inter-organizational change by doing boundary work: the dual act of redrawing boundaries and coordinating work in new ways. Design/methodology/approach Theoretically, the paper draws on the concept of boundary work from Science and Technology Studies. Empirically, the paper is based on an ethnographic investigation of middle managers that participate in a Dutch reform program across health, social care, and housing. Findings The findings show how middle managers create a sense of urgency for inter-organizational change by emphasizing "fragmented" service provision due to professional, sectoral, financial, and geographical boundaries. Rather than eradicating these boundaries, middle managers change the status quo gradually by redrawing composite boundaries. They use boundary objects and a boundary-transcending vocabulary emphasizing the need for societal gains that go beyond production targets of individual organizations. As a result, work is coordinated in new ways in neighborhood teams and professional expertise is being reconfigured. Research limitations/implications Since boundary workers create incremental change, it is necessary to follow their work for a longer period to assess whether boundary work contributes to paradigm change. Practical implications Organizations should pay attention to conditions for boundary work, such as legitimacy of boundary workers and the availability of boundary spaces that function as communities of practice. Originality/value By shifting the focus from boundaries to boundary work, this paper gives valuable insights into "how" boundaries are redrawn and embodied in objects and language.

Exploring the Dynamics of Network Deadlock: Interorganizational Stalemate without Stale Mates?

Traditionally, scholars have examined how organizational actors may influence interorganizational network change. In this paper, we examine how organizational actors may contribute to interorganiza...

How environmental changes and cooperation moderate labour flexibility and firm performance?

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to further explore the relationship between several dimensions of human resource (HR) flexibility and firm performance by introducing two moderator effects: inter-organizational cooperation and environmental changes. There is need for such studies because the relationship between HR flexibility and firm performance remains ambiguous and inconclusive. Whereas some theoretical perspectives and empirical evidences suggest the need to develop and support full-time and permanent employees, others argue that flexible labour relations are beneficial to firm performance. One of the reasons that could explain the lack of conclusive evidences is the scarce use of moderator effects.Design/methodology/approach– Research hypotheses are tested by structural equation analysis with data from a sample of 156 Spanish companies from different sectors.Findings– The results confirm the positive influence of internal HR flexibility on firm performance whereas the influence of external flexibility depends of each dimension in relation to the level of knowledge involved. However, the main finding is that environmental changes and cooperation moderate positively the relationship between functional flexibility and financial performance, as well as between external high skilled expertise and performance (at total level and its subcategories) which focus the importance of flexibility in their contribution to accessing and deploying knowledge into the firm.Research limitations/implications– Main limitations are the small sample size, the use of cross-sectional data and a structured questionnaire. Longitudinal studies and larger samples should test the causal relationships suggested by the results of the paper. The assessment of flexibility at the enterprise level could also be extended in future studies at the network level since some firms may obtain functional and numerical flexibility through its relationships with other companies in networks. The study of the relationships between different combinations of flexible work and firm performance, considering different groups of employees, could follow from the recommendations of moderator effects found in this research.Practical implications– Executives need to consider how the different units in the organizational structure interface with the contextual environmental, and they also need to understand the performance implications of different HR flexibility practices because their implications may change according to the exogenous business environment. The authors have found that the contribution of high skilled expertise from consulting/contracting firms is going to be more important than the contribution of short-term hires and temporary agency workers. Experts from outside not only bring knowledge of industry best practices into the firm that supports the innovative output, but they can also contribute to improve financial and relational performance. The results also suggest that external high skilled expertise may be more beneficial to the firm in highly changing environments than in more stable environments.Originality/value– Two are the main contributions of the paper: first, it analyses the influence of a comprehensive group of HR flexible practices on three different dimensions of firm performance which helps to understand in greater detail the causal mechanisms that link HR flexibility and firm performance in comparison to other studies that are more focused on singular flexible practices and measures of firm performance; and second, the paper analyses the moderator effect of both environmental dynamism and inter-organizational cooperation, which advances the theoretical understanding of flexibility and firm performance by studying different scenarios of HR flexibilities with these two moderators. The results of the paper could help managers to take advantage of different combinations of flexibility dimensions according to contingent situations and in order to improve firm performance.

Interest, sensemaking and adaptive processes in emerging business networks — An Australian biofuel case

We contribute to the literature, firstly by elaborating sensemaking as an inter-organizational process. Second, we contribute by displaying how processual research captures reality in flight. Third, an interest model is developed in conjunction with how managers jointly develop an understanding and adapt their surrounding business network, so as to fit R&D into the social-economic environment. We develop the concept of inter-organizational sensemaking by elaborating the in-between; a joint and multi-actor understanding of the way resources-activities and the network of actors can change. Sensemaking is undertaken purposefully and so the interests of society, individual managers, firms and the mutual interests inherent with inter-organizational change also play a part. Our processual method studies events and activities through sequences of phases and periods defined by the researchers. A longitudinal case study of an emergent biofuel network exemplifies this approach. The paper discusses future research and managerial implications.

Middle Managers' Sensemaking and Interorganizational Change Initiation: Translation Spaces and Editing Practices

In fast changing environments, middle managers regularly have to participate in interorganizational sensemaking work in order to deal with issues of industry-wide significance. The research is grounded on an empirical study of a cross-sector study group, bringing together middle managers from five large French public works and civil engineering firms who are examining issues related to the adoption of a shared digital mock-up that will reconfigure the sector. The article identifies four translation spaces in which these middle managers make sense of this design technology through a set of editing practices. The article ends by discussing the dynamic of these translation spaces and the need to better understand middle managers' editing practices when they are making sense of change across organizational boundaries.

Jolts and Interorganizational Network Change: Empirical Evidence from the Global Airline Industry

This study uses the panel data social network analysis program SIENA to estimate the effects of well established network mechanisms at multiple levels of analysis on alliance formation. The concept...

Giddens à la Carte? Appraising empirical applications of Structuration Theory in management and organization studies

There is an increasing interest in the application of Structuration Theory in the fields of management and organization studies. Based upon a thorough literature review, we have come up with a data-set to assess how Structuration Theory has been used in empirical research. We use three key concepts of this theory (duality of structure, knowledgeability, and time-space) as sensitizing concepts for our analysis. We conclude that the greatest potential of Structuration Theory for management and organization studies is to view it as a process theory that offers a distinct building block for explaining intra and interorganizational change, as exemplified through concepts such as routine, script, genre, practice, and discourse.

Employees' Prior Affiliations Constrain Organizational Network Change: Evidence from U.S. Venture Capital and Private Equity

I theorize that in order to alleviate information asymmetries organizations embed both employment relationships and inter-organizational relationships in their employees’ prior education and employment affiliations. Analyses of employment and investment data from U.S. venture capital and private equity firms support the theory. First, increasing educational prestige differentials decrease both inter-individual co-employment rates and inter-organizational co-investment rates. Second, two individuals who share a prior education or a prior employment affiliation are more likely to be employed by the same organization than are two individuals who do not share such an affiliation. Third, the likelihood of two organizations forming a co-investment relationship increases with the number of prior education or employment affiliations shared by their employees. I propose that these tendencies constrain inter-organizational network change by stabilizing advantaged organizations’ positions and limiting disadvantaged organizations’ positional mobility. Implications for studies of network evolution and socioeconomic inequality are discussed.

Generating effective interorganizational change: A relational approach

This study examines the effect of relationship activities and information technology adoption on the effectiveness of interorganizational change, and the moderating effect of partner characteristics and information sharing. The model was empirically tested using a survey instrument given to 131 manufacturers. The results show that relationship activities and information technology adoption are related positively to the effectiveness of interorganizational change. Further, partner characteristics and information sharing have a significant moderating effect. The authors also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of their findings.

Profiling Change

Profile analysis is proposed as a means for advancing empirical change process research. In the context of organizational studies, a profile can be viewed as a set of sequentially arranged factors that expresses the relative strength of individual factors and holistic patterns inside or between organizational entities. To demonstrate the utility of the approach in change process research, profile analysis was employed in a cross-sectional study. Hypotheses related to Lewin’s three-step model of change were tested using data obtained from managers involved in change implementation. Results confirmed a progression through Lewin’s unfreezing-movement-refreezing sequence during implementation. Profiles that reflected higher systematic use of change process factors were also found related to implementation success. Many future research opportunities are apparent, such as investigating interorganizational change profile types and using profile analysis to enhance longitudinal research designs.

Cultivating collaborative improvement: an action learning approach

The process of implementing collaborative initiatives across disparate members of supply networks is fraught with difficulties. One approach designed to tackle the difficulties of organisational change and interorganisational improvement in practice is 'action learning'. This paper examines the experiential lessons that arise when cultivating collaborative improvement in an interorganisational learning environment. The authors, acting as action researchers, facilitated a practical learning program in an Extended Manufacturing Enterprise (EME). Based on this experience, a practical learning model is offered to promote and facilitate interorganisational change as part of a collaborative improvement process.

Evaluating the extent of inter-organizational learning and change in local authorities through the english beacon council scheme

This article examines the English Beacon Council Scheme, established by central government to reward excellence in service delivery and to disseminate good practice across local government. Using data from a national survey (N = 314) and seventy-two interviews from twelve case studies, this article examines three research questions. First, how much learning takes place at or through Beacon Council events? Second, to what extent has this learning led to implementation of service and corporate changes in local authorities? Third, what are the enablers and barriers of inter-organizational learning and change from the Beacon Council Scheme? The article demonstrates that the Beacon Council Scheme is relatively successful in sharing good practice but there is uncertainty over where the Scheme fits into the local government modernization agenda. Lessons learnt from sharing good practice in the Beacon Council Scheme may be applicable to other areas of the public sector, in the UK and beyond.

Experiential Learning Processes of Exploitation and Exploration Within and Between Organizations: An Empirical Study of Product Development

This article examines a fundamental characteristic of modern organizations: the dynamics of exploitation and exploration in intra- and interorganizational learning processes. Exploitation is about creating reliability in experience, and thrives on productivity and refinement. Exploration is concerned with creating variety in experience, and thrives on experimentation and free association. The findings of a case study on product development within a leading Scandinavian software producer and its interorganizational collaborations with business partners suggest how experiential learning processes of exploitation and exploration within the organizations concerned generate interorganizational exploitation and exploration. Conversely, the data suggest how exploitation and exploration between the organizations generate intraorganizational exploitation and exploration. A conceptual framework describing the nature of such learning dynamics is proposed. This framework emphasizes that experiential learning is a driving force behind much intra- and interorganizational change in the form of transformations between exploitation and exploration.